The newly updated Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 is helping the automaker to another U.S. sales crown.

Mercedes-Benz is leading the race for the luxury vehicle sales crown for the third consecutive year, heading into December with an edge over its closest competitors, BMW and Lexus.

Mercedes reported it sold 31,022 vehicles in November, an increase of 0.6% from November 2017. On a year-to-date basis, Mercedes-Benz sales totaled 283,943, with an additional 34,062 units for vans and 1,154 vehicles for smart, bringing total sales volume to 319,159.

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“Demand for our SUV line-up including the GLA, GLC and new G-Class combined with increases for the E-Class and new CLS fueled results for the month,” said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. “We anticipate a solid close to the final weeks of 2018.”

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in November included the GLC, C-Class and E-Class model lines. The GLC took the lead at 6,199, followed by C-Class sales of 5,777. The E-Class rounded out the top three with 5,181 units sold.

Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 1% in November for a total of 28,330, compared with 28,049 vehicles sold in November 2017. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 1.9% on sales of 276,657 vehicles compared with 271,432 sold in the first 11 months of 2017.

(Mercedes debuts new GLE ute in Los Angeles. Click Here for the story.)

BMW has also been relying on its South Carolina-built sport-activity vehicles for a strong sales year in 2018.

“BMW sales growth in the U.S. reached another milestone as November marked our 13th straight month of sales increases in the U.S. with our expanding line of Sports Activity Vehicles once more leading the way,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, president and CEO, BMW of North America.

“The all-new BMW X5 delivered an extraordinary result in its first weeks on sale with the X3 and the 5 Series rounding out the month as our top sellers.”

BMW’s line-up of Sports Activity Vehicles accounted for 56% of BMW brand sales in November 2018. This was led by the all-new BMW X5 and BMW X3, which together represented one out of every three BMW vehicles sold in the U.S. in November.

For the ninth consecutive month, the BMW X3 was the top-selling BMW model in the U.S. – closely followed by the all-new BMW X5, which recently began arriving at BMW showrooms across the U.S.

Volvo Car USA LLC, (VCUSA) reported U.S. sales of 8,181 vehicles for the month of November, a 4.2% increase versus November 2017. Year-to-date VCUSA has sold 89,437 vehicles, an increase of 24.5% versus the previous year.

Lexus, which now also leans heavily on utility vehicle line-up, reported its sales dropped slightly in November. It has sold at total of 262,786 vehicles so far this year. Its total sales have dropped 2%, but its sales of utility vehicles have increased.